A former Victorian insurance intermediary has pleaded guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception, theft and obtaining property by deception between July 2001 and December 2002.

John Raymond Burton-Clay of Guildford, Victoria, who ran Maine Insurance Agencies, pleaded guilty in the County Court last week to theft and fraud to the value of $530,920.69, following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The court was told he deceived proprietors of hotels in regional Victoria by claiming to arrange policies covering property damage and public liability. But he did not arrange the public liability component of the policies and pocketed the difference.

He has been permanently barred from the financial services industry and is due to be sentenced later this week.